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Hannelstone
Hannelstone is a Ruin Site in central Paramis. It is, as of current accounting, the largest such site on Fontraile. At one point a High Elven city in the kingdom of Rollande, one of the many countries that would later become Paramis, the entire city was buried in an earthquake that caused much of the city and its supportive structure to collapse into the sewers below it. It is best-known for being a major part of the Paramisian Unification and for being the nesting ground of the Crimson Emperor. Like a canker spreading through a tree, Hannelstone branches deeply through central Paramis, centered primarily on the central sinkhole that the bulk of the city sank into. Accessible now through a series of tunnels threading the outskirts of the old city and a few established access routes deeper in, the inside of Hannelstone is a literal labyrinth. Untold miles of shattered brick-work with corridors ranging in size from tiny crawlspaces to wide-open former streets. Beyond the shattered wreckage of the city that sank are the lower structures of the sewers below it, still intact and still structrurally sound, though High Elven scholars insist that the current layout no longer matches official records taken from before Hannelstone's fall. Streams of stagnant, brackish water flow everywhere, though seldom more than a foot or two deep. The water, which is particularly stagnant in places, has an unbearable smell of mildew, and there is a very real danger of both toxic and explosive gasses in spots. Monsters that hate the light are often found here, as are monsters at home in wet and/or toxic environments, including many giant insects. Worse still are what travelers have described encountering in the lowest levels of Hannelstone - black, horrifying shapes which move beyond the boundary of lanterns and torches, only rarely allowing explorers to catch a hulking outline or the flash of red eyes in their view. Unfortunate souls who've become lost exploring Hannelstone have noted that the location has a baffling and disturbing tendency to lead one deeper and deeper underground - and the deeper one goes, the more the encounters with the dark monsters tend to become. It is for this reason, only about 67% of Hannelstone has thus far been mapped out. Hannelstone is mostly known for being the first location that Behemoths were encountered. Nightmarish beasts having traits common to dragons, fiends, and great cats, these beasts were encountered during the Hannelstone Incidents in such numbers that they gave Hannelstone its nickname of City of the Behemoths. Major Settlements: None. The Folk: None. The few that have encountered the unidentified beasts in the depths of Hannelstone have described them as akin to looking like something out of a nightmare. Primary Exports: None. Coinage: None. The Law: None. Nobody can say what the commandments the monsters that dwell within Hannelstone might obey. History: Hannelstone's collapse led to the rise of the Crimson Emperor and a protracted, brutal fight with monsters that escaped from the depths. To date, there's been two outbreaks in Paramisian history - one when Hannelstone first sank (the time of the Crimson Emperor), and a second outbreak triggered by a cavern collapse, later determined to have been done by Deep Ones in an effort to attack the surface. Both of these were hallmarked by outright invasions of dreadful beasts, most notably Behemoths.